The NCAA announced Thursday that it would change its rules to ban biological males from women’s sports, a day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports.
Trump’s order called on the federal government to bar transgender women – people who are biologically male – from competing in women’s sports, restricting the category to biological women only. A day after the president’s order, the NCAA Board of Governors voted to update its policy on transgender student-athletes, limiting women’s competitions only to include “student-athletes assigned female at birth only.”
“The NCAA is an organization made up of 1,100 colleges and universities in all 50 states that collectively enroll more than 530,000 student-athletes. We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a statement. “To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.”
The NCAA rules will permit anyone, regardless of sex, to compete in men’s sports, while women’s sports will be limited to biological women.
The NCAA’s prior transgender policy had come under scrutiny in 2022 when then-University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who is transgender, competed in and placed in events at that year’s NCAA Division I national championship for the sport.
Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who competed against Thomas in that championship, has been an outspoken critic of the NCAA’s former policy that allowed Thomas to swim against biological women. Gaines, who attended the signing ceremony of Trump’s executive order, celebrated the NCAA’s rule change with a post on X.
“The NCAA has officially changed their ‘transgender participation’ policy effective immediately. I can’t even begin to tell you how vindicating it feels knowing no girl will ever have to experience what my teammates and I did. Thank God Trump is back in office,” Gaines said.
Trump celebrated the NCAA rule change while also suggesting the International Olympic Committee should also bar biological males from women’s sports. Los Angeles will host the 2028 Summer Olympics, which Trump will oversee during his term in the White House.
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“Exciting news! Due to my Executive Order, which I proudly signed yesterday, the NCAA has officially changed their policy of allowing men in Women’s Sports – IT IS NOW BANNED! This is a great day for women and girls across our Country. Men should have NEVER been allowed to compete against women in the first place, but I am proud to be the President to SAVE Women’s Sports,” Trump posted on Truth Social
“We expect the Olympics Committee to also use Common Sense, and implement this policy, which is very popular among the American People, and the entire World!” Trump added.